Donald Trump's Outsiders

Painting Ben Carson and Donald Trump as GOP "outsiders" on Hardball with Chris Matthews last week, MSNBC has proven two things: That they have a geek in the graphics department, and that they might owe DC Comics a couple of bucks. Thanks to Joe Wolfe on Facebook for bringing this to my attention.

Because as you know, I haven't exactly been timid about my disdain for comicdom's worst super-team (see?), so in a reverse kind of way, I have a vested interest in the group. Now, I'm not an American, and I consequently only know what's loud enough to filter through the border when it comes to American politics (right now it's TRUMP!!! TRUMP!!! TRUMP!!! basically). But the Outsiders aren't a bad metaphor for what's going on. I mean, I know Trump and Carson aren't party insiders, but calling a neurosurgeon/author, and a celebrity billionaire who is the frontrunner by a mile "outsiders" is the same as giving that name to a superhero team that includes a European prince, an Olympic gold-medalist, and uhm, a celebrity billionaire who is DC's best-selling hero of all time, "the Outsiders".

The question everyone's asking, of course, is "Who is Trump supposed to be in this lot?"

Batman? Really? Well, Bruce Wayne WAS involved in real estate deals and such, in the early issues of the Outsiders especially. I like to thing he's Geo-Force, because I think both characters are ridiculous and there's something going on with the hair. Simon Stagg, totally, but Metamorpho, no. I don't know how many GOP outsiders are in the GOP race exactly, but probably fewer than there are members of the team.

Another conclusion that might be drawn from this comparison is that the DC Universe is Republican, and so it must follow that Marvel is Democrat. And it's easy to make those arguments. DC is currently making waves as the comics company most damaged by overt corporate requirements, its grimdark approach smacks of the hard right's fearmongering, and it's already stopped one same-sex marriage from happening. Marvel characters, meanwhile, have almost always been bleeding hearts, the company is doing better with diversity generally, etc. (though of course, you could easily flip those arguments, I'm not shilling for any side, just having fun with it). It's a little ironic that it's DC that has a Super-Obama character in its roster.

Maybe the pundits out there can make further parallels between Trump and the Outsiders. (Like, if Geo-Force doesn't get his own series, will some independent comics company start publishing one?)

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I still like the idea of the Outsiders, much more than any execution of it to date. (Maybe their teaser against Kobra on Batman: the Brave and the Bold, but even that wasn't quite there.) Mind, I did read the issue with Rex as a go-cart and Brian Bolland art the other day; they should've done more of those!

I suspect that under his grotesque combover, Donald Trump's scalp is pasty white and mottled. So, perhaps Trump is some kind of alternate-Earth Metamorpho (say if Simon Stagg were exposed to a radioactive meteorite).

And with that, I've just realized that I know more about Batman and the Outsiders than American politics.